THE INSTITUTE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND LAND-USE PLANNING

The Institute for Environmental Management and Land-use Planning (Institut de Gestion de l'Environnement et d'Aménagement du Territoire - IGEAT) engages in interdisciplinary research in the areas of the environment, spatial and regional planning, and tourism, and coordinates university teaching at the Master’s and doctoral levels in environmental studies and tourism. Since 2006, the Institute is a department of the Faculty of Sciences of the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

RESEARCH

IGEAT engages in academic and applied research, and participates in a series of programmes and networks, such as :

In Belgium: the Permanent Conference on Territorial Development (CPDT), the programmes in Sustainable Development and Society and the Future administered by the Scientific Policy Federal Public Service (BELSPO), Prospective Research in Brussels (PRB), etc.

The research conducted at IGEAT in this area aims at identifying the characteristics of different types of territory, at examining their organisation and understanding their functioning. Often these are seen from the perspective of operation, orientation and aid to decision-making by public or private actors, for instance as regards the location of economic activities, the restructuring of distribution or transport networks, and the impact of certain activities on the territory.

Territorial and Environmental Governance

The research conducted by IGEAT in this area focuses on the way environmental and territorial policies are formulated, the measures and tools adopted by these policies, and their effects. They also examine the impact of sectoral policies on the environment and the landscape.

Environmental Evaluations

Two principal issues are addressed in this area: the evaluation of environmental or other policies in terms of sustainability, using relevant indicators; the measurement of the socio-economic and environmental impact of implanting new activities and infrastructures (impact assessment).

Sustainable Consumption and production patterns

Based on a theoretical reflection on the concept of sustainable development, the work done at IGEAT in this domain focuses in particular on “greening” production and consumption, the roles of consumers, and the incentives and policies in this area.

Energy and Climate Change

In this field of research, of crucial importance today, IGEAT proposes first of all a fine socio-political approach to the contribution of household energy consumption to climate change. Research is being done as well on adaptation to climate change, both in Europe and in developing countries, comparing the political and practical orientations of the relevant actors.

Urban Studies

Generally speaking, the urban studies carried out at IGEAT are aimed at gaining better understanding of the logic of social production of urban spaces in Europe, according to a twofold comparative perspective: in both time and space. Close attention is paid as well to intra-urban socio-spatial inequalities.

Land-use

IGEAT has at its disposal a wide range of expertise in the interpretation and understanding of spatio-temporal structures of territorial density under demographic pressure, both in Europe and in Africa (urban growth, migration of refugee populations, seaside tourism, etc.), based on teledetection data (aerial photographs and satellite images in high and very high resolution).

Landscape Studies

Several publications at IGEAT were devoted to the identification of landscapes, to the environmental and social processes that formed them, to the associated representations and to their management. Significant attention is also paid to the interpretation of landscape for both tourist and pedagogical purposes.

Tourism Studies

In the field of tourism, IGEAT conducts research, from a systemic and interdisciplinary perspective, into the interaction of tourism with territorial and social dynamics. The logic of production of tourist areas, the process of valorisation of tourist resources and heritage sites, and more generally, the role of tourist actors, constitute the principal research topics.

Social and Environmental Inequities

In this cross-disciplinary domain, the work done at IGEAT seeks to question the relationships between the social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, and more particularly as regards the social impact of environmental policies and of socio-economic inequalities in terms of energy.

EDUCATION

Master in Environmental Sciences and Management

(number of students enrolled in 2009: 246)

This Master enables students to acquire the analytical tools necessary for an interdisciplinary approach to questions having to do with the environmental science and management. From the 2010-2011 academic year onwards, it will include two distinct orientations, each with specific prerequisites for admission: Environmental Management and Environmental Sciences.

The first orientation places special emphasis on the protection, conservation and improvement of the environment and the quality of life from the perspective of the management of environmental problems. It is open to all those with a university Bachelor’s degree, as well as to those with a Master’s. The latter will be given a number of exemptions and will be able to complete the programme in one year by opting for a formal enrollment into the second year of the MA. Those with a diploma from a non-universitarian higher education institution (“haute école”) can be admitted via a preparatory year.

The second orientation is based more particularly on a rigorous scientific analysis of the environment from the perspective of a better understanding of the way our planet functions. The accent is on the fields of climatology, glaciology and earth sciences. It is intended specifically for students with a Bachelor of Science or Engineering.

Please note that the teaching and examining language for the MA Environment is French.

Master in Tourism Science and Management

(number of students enrolled in 2009: 66)

Unique in Belgium’s French Community, the Master in Tourism Science and Management offers its graduates a global and interdisciplinary view of this sector. It provides them with tools necessary for holding high management positions in the tourist industry. It offers thorough mastery of national and international practice in the sector, and emphasises development techniques that are sensitive to local and environmental needs. Finally, if encourages students to take into account the rules and best practices that allow for a harmonious integration of tourist activity into society and the environment.

The Master’s programme is open to all those who hold a university Bachelor’s degree and, following a preparatory year, to those with a non-university level Bachelor’s in foreign trade, law, transport management, hotel management, marketing, public relations, tourism, communication, human resources management, management assistant or accounting.

Please note that the teaching and examining language for the MA Tourism is French.

Euromaster Urban Studies - UNICA 4Cities

(number of students enrolled in 2009: 22)

This Master’s is an interdisciplinary programme in urban studies offered entirely in English. It is jointly administered by universities located in four capitals: Brussels (ULB and VUB), Vienna (Universität Wien), Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) and Madrid (Universidad Complutense and Universidad Autónoma) – and partners of the UNICA network (Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe). The 4Cities Master is intended to impart the tools necessary for analysing the role of cities in globalisation and for understanding their contemporary mutations.

The Master is open to all holders of university Bachelor’s degrees.

Doctorate - PhD

Doctorate in sciences, with specialisation in subjects relating to the environment, tourism and spatial/regional planning.

STAFF

A total of around forty teachers are involved in the courses run by IGEAT. In addition, some forty researchers, postdocs and PhD students are working in the various research units.

The IGEAT encourages applications from foreign post-doctoral candidates. if you want to apply: write to the president’s office.

SERVICE TO THE WIDER COMMUNITY

While committed to high scientific standards, the research and teaching conducted at IGEAT are designed to remain connected to the needs of society in the domains under study.

As a result, the Institute both as a body and via its members is represented on various organisations such as the Walloon Environmental Council for Sustainable Development, the Regional Committee for Spatial and Regional Planning, the Regional Council for the Development of the Brussels Capital Region, The Federal Council for Sustainable Development, the UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Development, etc.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) was a pioneer in organising an interfaculty licentiate degree in environmental studies in 1975. In 1983, the GEVREU (Grouped'Etude pour la Valorisation des Espaces Ruraux et Urbains) was created to conduct applied research for third parties before the establishment of IGEAT in 1993 as an interdisciplinary institute that is independent of the faculties of the Université Libre de Bruxelles. As well as conducting both contractual and academic research, IGEAT is committed to expanding teaching in environmental studies substantially at the ULB. The programme led to a DES (Diploma of Specialised Studies) that numerous future environmental managers would take starting in the 1990s. In 1995, a Licentiate in tourism science and management was also set up at IGEAT, the first of its type in a university within the French Community. A teaching programme in local development and urban studies was also set up. In 2006, IGEAT joined the Faculty of Sciences, of which it became a department.